lunes, 17 de diciembre de 2012

The virtues of chessPublished: October 16 There are many reasons to be excited about the promotion of chess to District children. It reminds us that they still make games the way they used to and that those games have benefits too significant to ignore.

More than 30 countries have made chess a required part of the curriculum. In those countries, children more frequently possess stronger abilities to recognize patterns. Chess players learn not just logic and patience but creativity and deliberation. Research has shown that children’s test scores improved significantlywhen they took chess classes, and other studies indicate that students’ self-esteem rises and their self-image improves.

sábado, 15 de diciembre de 2012

Why chess deserves a place in schoolsIn Armenia all six-year-olds study chess; in UK schools it 'fell off a cliff' in the 1980s. But its educational benefits are plentifulJonathan Calderguardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 February 2012 13.30 ESTPrimary school children in Armenia have more to contend with than just the three Rs. From the age of six, they all study chess as a separate subject for two hours a week. Chess is important to the very identity of this landlocked little country. Armenia suffered massacres and repression in the 20th century and has recently experienced an economic collapse. Yet in the 1960s, it provided the Soviet Union with one of its succession of world champions in the shape of Tigran Petrosian. A master of defence, his relentless grinding down of opponents made him the Geoffrey Boycott of the chessboard. And today, Armenia – with a population of just 3 million – holds the men's world team title.So it was no surprise when an official of the Armenian education ministry told the Associated Foreign Press that teaching chess in schools would "create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower". But there is more to it than that: Armenia is one of a growing number of nations hoping to see wider educational benefits from encouraging chess in schools. India, Turkey and Norway have all made similar moves recently, and a summary of research produced by the Quad Cities Chess Club in America talks of enhanced mental abilities and an improvement in conventional schoolwork.This is not a new idea. The Soviet dominance of the game was rooted in the new regime's embrace of chess immediately after the revolution. The game was seen as a cheap way to bring culture to the masses and display the new state's superiority to the decadent capitalist west. "We must organise shock brigades of chess players and begin the immediate realisation of a Five-Year Plan for chess," declared Nikolai Krylenko, the father of Soviet chess – some years before Stalin had him arrested and shot.The international master and chess journalist Malcolm Pein, a gentler soul, is one of those who want to see the game flourish again in British schools. "There is no other activity that costs so little to organise and that cuts across so many barriers," he says. "Age, sex, race, religion … they mean nothing in chess. Anyone can enjoy it. Around 500 million people in 167 countries play the game and only football can rival that. Yet it has long been in decline in our schools."Two years ago, Pein's organisation, Chess in Schools and Communities, launched a pilot programme involving 60 primary schools and 6,000 children. By 2015 it aims to have introduced the game to 17,000 schools and to have a million children playing. It is an ambitious target, but so far they are on track. Chess is still played by many British children, and Pein praises the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge. However, his impression is that many of the 2,000 schools that take part come from the private sector.Does this mean British chess has always been confined to a social elite? Pein suggests not. Talking about the match held by radio between Great Britain and the Soviet Union in 1946, he says: "Yes, the British team were all Oxbridge types – probably because everyone else was too busy earning a living. But if you look at photographs of the audience, they don't look particularly middle class." My own experience as a member of the feared Market Harborough team of the 1980s bears this out. When we won a trophy, it would be engraved with the names of all its previous holders. Until the 1960s these were overwhelmingly works or company teams: after that they barely featured. Looking at those trophies was like discovering a lost culture.Chess held on for longer in state schools. Pein dates its decline – "it fell off a cliff" – to the 1980s, a decade that saw the narrowing of the curriculum and a subsequent disaffection among teachers. But it may not be too late to reverse that decline, because the memory of the benefits and pleasures of chess lingers. "When I talk to headteachers," says Pein, "they often say: 'We always had a chess club when I was at school. Why haven't we got one now?'"Source: http://www.guardian.co.ukChess Benefits * Blogspot http://chessbenefits.blogspot.mx/Aprende idiomas leyendo periodicos y revistas * When you learn English, you have to learn in whole sentences and in context * Learn languages by reading newspapers and magazines * Imprime diariamente de 10 a 40 renglones de algún texto o noticia interesante o curiosa en tu idioma. Subraya de 10 a 40 palabras (según tu disponibilidad). Anótalas en columna en el espacio disponible abajo del texto o en el reverso de la hoja. Tradúcelas al inglés u otro idioma deseado. Anota el significado al lado de cada palabra. Si ya entiendes lo que lees al 50% en un idioma extranjero, repite lo anterior pero ahora con oraciones cortas (en lugar de palabras) en el idioma extranjero que ya conoces. Revisa tu trabajo y compáralo con el de otros compañeros para corregir errores. Muestra tu trabajo a tu profesor. Pídele que te sugiera otra actividad que expanda lo que acabas de realizar. Copia y comparte este trabajo, súbelo a tu blog o página personal. My Homework Network * Non-Profit Sharing Ring * Languages * Collaborative School Projects * Prof JML * Mexico

jueves, 13 de diciembre de 2012

The New World was one of the “mammoth” weeklies of the 1840's, so called because its pages were sometimes more than four feet long and eleven columns wide. A quarto edition was also published. Editors Park Benjamin and Rufus Wilmot Griswold, who had previously served as editors of a rival paper, the Brother Jonathan, upset the book publishers by reprinting complete novels as “extras.” Their messengers would meet the incoming steamships in order to capture the earliest copies of the new English serials, which were then pirated in its pages.

They serialized The Wandering Jew, translated by Henry William Herbert, in 1844 Volume IX No. 6. This also contained an articleMesmeric Revelation by Edgar Allan Poe.

An ad under the heading ANOTHER GREAT GERMAN ROMANCE, isThe Jesuit, A Historical Romance by C. Spindler, author of “The Jew” “The Invalide” etc. Another for the The Invalide; or, Pictures of the French Revolution, by C. Spindler, translated from the German by Dr. Herbe and James Mackay says; “The Invalide is written with wonderful power, and the numerous and thrilling incidents are wrought out with infinite skill, combining all the leading events of the French revolution, from the outbreak at Versailles to the Battle of Waterloo, with the charms and exciting interest of the most captivating romance.”

An earlier serial in Volume II No. 10, November of 1842 was Franklin Evans; or, The Inebriate, a Tale of the Times, by Walter Whitman, a temperance tale. This was Walt Whitman.

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

***

The New World, Vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 26, 1839) -- Folio Edition, the folio edition, begun in Oct. 1839, contained the same articles as the quarto, except for additional advertisements and a few news items. New York: James Winchester.

domingo, 9 de diciembre de 2012

Resources

There should be no barriers to education. Teachers deserve access to the content, tools, resources, and people that can help them do their valuable work. This section was created with one goal in mind: to help our colleagues connect with the resources they need to play a vital role in their classrooms and communities.

You will see several sections here. Some will take you to other sites - repositories of open and free resources where you can find content to enrich your classroom practice or your professional growth. Some will take you to search engines that will make finding resources easier. But all of the sections here have one thing in common: they include or point to Open Educational Resources - free, high-quality content developed by organizations, institutions, and individual educators who believe that teachers learn best when they share resources and experiences.

Bookmarks

Easy way to save, remember, and share websites that matter to you. The more users, the better it gets.

Social Media Sites for Shutterbugs

Photography has become more popular nowadays than it was decades ago. Photography used to be the turf only for professionals, since people only have their photographs taken for ID requirements and/ or for special occasions. It is rare for families to have their own cameras, and even if they do they seldom bring it along except during momentous events when they know they will need to take some shots. At present, however, millions have their own digital cameras which enable them to shoot (in auto mode, no photography basics background required), view the photos and decide whether they are worthy of memory card space, and if so, share it for the whole social networking world to see. Funny thing is, not much pictures are being printed anymore or sent in the mail, all we get are pictures posted in social media networks for friends and relatives to see and appreciate.

It is not surprising, moreover, for millions and millions to now be interested and even fascinated with photography these days, considering the ease and practicality by which one can take pictures and share it with the world. Not only that, but we also have at our convenience loads of software, online programs and apps to edit, modify and enhance our digital photos to make them more amazing. And with the advancement in mobile technology, sometimes cameras are no longer needed – your fab mobile phone already takes great photos!

Here’s a roundup of great social media sites where you can share your amazing photographs to millions of other users.